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A randomised study of lottery participation conducted by the University of South Africa (UNISA) found that in 2010, nearly three quarters of lottery players earned less than R 5,000 a month – and of those 33 percent earn R1000 a month or less.
The study’s findings add to scholarly work from the United States and Europe demonstrating that lotteries can amount to a regressive tax that, while not imposed by law, is sanctioned by participating governments using advertising campaigns that even the National Gambling Board (NGB) describes as, “perhaps irresponsible… manipulative.”
That poor people across the planet are overrepresented among the ranks of lottery players may not be a surprise. Far less known is known about the presence and activities of GTech, a lottery titan involved in 100 countries around the globe and the subject of controversies stretching back decades.
An exclusive analysis of public financial documents conducted in 2016 shows that the company, which completed a merger in 2015 with gaming giant International Game Technology (IGT), has avoided hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes through financial maneuvers. IGT is currently the main technology supplier for lottery systems and support for Ithuba, the company that currently runs the SA lottery.
The process through which the merger happened appears to show aggressive tax avoidance, involving slashing corporate tax rates in half while keeping billions hidden from the taxman.